[maemo-developers] Diablo Extras repository: Implementation of the plan

[From: Niels Breet]

Hi all,

OS2008 Feature Upgrade[1], Maemo 4.1[2], Diablo, have been released and
now we need to enable the Extras repository. There has been a lot of talk
about how we can make the Diablo community repository better than the ones
we had before. I have submitted a proposal[3] for the Diablo repository
and this is what we are now going to do.

The time for talking is over, we now need to act on the plans.

Implementation:

Direct upload of packages to the Diablo Extras repository has been
disabled. There is an autobuilder in place which only takes proper source
packages. You can upload these source packages to the builder by:

1. dput [4]
2. web-based Extras assistant[5]

Once a package has been uploaded and processed by the autobuilder, you
will receive a mail with the build status of your package. The build
results of all submitted packages can also be seen on the mailinglist[6].

After a successful build, the package will end up in the Extras-devel
repository. This repository is meant to be a playground, testing,
experimentation repository. If the developer thinks a package is ready for
Extras, he/she can promote the package to extras with the promotion
interface. (This interface is not activated for Diablo yet, but it will be
asap)

These changes to the upload process will be a start of the process as
defined by the community[7] in the wiki.

Implementation status:

The autobuilder is active for Chinook and Diablo.
The Extras assistant is active for Chinook and Diablo.
The promotion interface is active for Chinook, Diablo will follow soon.

Review:

Let's have a public review of the repository situation after a few weeks.
Based on the review we can make some changes, try them out and review
again. (LRR) We will not get it right the first time, but at least we can
start making progress. Please take some time to test everything, we really
appreciate your feedback.

Chinook rebuild and Diablo Extras bootstrap:

We will bootstrap the Diablo Extras repository with the packages which
have a 'build OK' from the Chinook rebuild effort[8]. If your package has
some problems, feel free to fix it by uploading a new source package to
Chinook extras.


Thanks:
I would like to thank Ed Bartosh and Mikhail Sobolev for all their time
and hard work invested in the autobuilder and promotion interfaces.

Problems:

If you experience any problems or if something is not clear, feel free to
mail me.


--
Niels Breet
maemo.org webmaster



[1]
http://maemo.org/news/announcements/view/os2008_feature_upgrade-reflash_your_tablet-for_the_last_time.html
[2]
http://maemo.org/news/announcements/view/maemo_4-1_comes_with_new_tools-better_documentation_and_a_promoted_extras_repository.html
[3] http://wiki.maemo.org/Diablo_extras_repository_proposal
[4] http://extras-cauldron.garage.maemo.org/HOWTO.html
[5] https://garage.maemo.org/extras-assistant/index.php
[6] https://garage.maemo.org/pipermail/extras-cauldron-builds/
[7] http://wiki.maemo.org/extras_repository_process_definition
[8]
https://garage.maemo.org/extras-assistant/maemo_extras_chinook_rebuild.php